Why was UK writer Nitasha Kaul denied entry to India? MEA clarifies
On Nitasha Kaul's allegation that she was sent back from the airport, MEA said it is a sovereign decision as to who will be allowed to enter the country.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal on Thursday said giving entry to a foreign national into the country is a sovereign decision explaining why UK writer Nitasha Kaul was denied entry to the country. The UK-based, Kashmiri-origin writer took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to recount her ordeal at the airport in Bengaluru where she was denied entry though she was invited by the Karnataka government for a seminar. Kaul said the order was from New Delhi and based on her past articles against RSS. BJP leaders called Nitasha Kaul a 'known terrorist sympathiser' spreading anti-India propaganda.
"Denied entry to India for speaking on democratic & constitutional values. I was invited to a conference as esteemed delegate by Govt of Karnataka (Congress-ruled state) but Centre refused me entry. All my documents were valid & current (UK passport & OCI)," Nitasha wrote on X triggering a war of words between the Congress and the BJP.
Karnataka VHP leader Girish Bharadwaj who questioned the Congress government in Karnataka over inviting Nitasha Kaul has written to Union home minister Amit Shah requesting the ministry to terminate Nitasha Kaul's OCI card. "She frequently visits India with a malicious agenda that goes against the interests of our country. Union government should notify all state governments to refrain from inviting Dr Kaul as guest for any events in India," Bharadwaj wrote.
"This particular UK national (Nitasha Kaul) came to India on 22nd Feb. As you know, the entry of foreign nationals into our country is a sovereign decision. I leave it at that," the MEA spokesperson said.
After being deported from India, Nitasha said she was facing death threats from the right-wing ecosystem of the country. "I am not married to a Pakistani, not Muslim convert, not a pawn of China, not a puppet of West, not a commie, not a jihadi, not Pak sympathiser, not terrorist supporter, not anti-India, not part of a gang. I am what authoritarians fear -- a thinking woman," Nitasha Kaul wrote.
Karnataka ministers said it was another example of how the BJP trampled the rights of the state government. It is the right of the Karnataka Government to both organise a convention on the Constitution and to host experts who can meaningfully contribute to how the state's development and national interest can be furthered, Karnataka minister H C Mahadevappa said.
